Staff Writer
Members of the American Cleaning Institute (ACI) have reduced the water used per ton of production by 21 percent between 2009 and 2013, according to the ACI’s 2015 Sustainability Report. Thirty-three ACI member companies submitted metrics data for the ACI’s 2014 Sustainability Metrics Program, which captured sustainability performance for 17.3 million metric tons of cleaning product-related production.
In addition to the substantial reduction in water use, the report includes the following highlights:
According to the report, hazard data is publicly available for 80 percent of ACI members’ cleaning product ingredients. Twenty-five companies have committed to improving their
sustainability performance through participation in ACI’s
Charter for Sustainable Cleaning.
The report also includes ACI’s first-ever industry materiality assessment, which maps the critical risks and opportunities facing the industry’s value chain.
The top 10 issues to the cleaning products industry’s internal and external stakeholders identified by the materiality assessment include:
- Safety of chemical ingredients; raw material sourcing and scarcity.
- Public disclosure of information related to sustainability, governance and products.
- Climate risks and opportunities; emissions of greenhouse gases.
- Biodiversity, deforestation, environmental management and responsible agricultural practices.
- Water use, wastewater treatment and water recycling.
- Health and safety management; health and wellness training programs.
- Hazardous and non-hazardous waste; management of product end-of-life.
- Energy use and renewable energy.
- Screening business partners on ethics and sustainability issues.
- Compliance with environmental, health and safety regulations.
